Comment: All sides' views must be heard in proposed Everton FC move

May 6 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

ANY scheme of the magnitude and complexity as the proposed move of Everton FC to Kirkby, as part of a massive retail development in the town centre, is bound to provoke controversy, and so it has proved.

Only a week after the Government’s key architectural adviser, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Cabe), issued a scathing attack on the £400m masterplan – saying it would "have a detrimental impact on the town and is not of a standard that Kirkby deserves" – other heavyweights have now moved in.

The objections being made by Liverpool and Sefton councils, along with Grosvenor – the firm behind the £1bn Liverpool One development – is that the Kirkby scheme, which includes a Tesco superstore and 50 shops, would have a detrimental impact on other parts of Merseyside.

Grosvenor reckons such a development, if allowed to go ahead, would deprive Liverpool city centre of £129m in turnover.

Although these organisations have a perfect right to adopt such a position, it still seems unfair that neighbouring authorities and developers should attempt to hold back Knowsley’s attempt to revitalise one of its borough’s own town centres, in Kirkby.

Not that Everton and Tesco’s scheme enjoys universal support even among people who live in the borough, or among some of the club’s supporters, who have conducted a highly vocal campaign for Everton to remain in the city.

For this reason, it is important that the public inquiry into the Kirkby development, which we have been told is inevitable, should be held as soon as possible so that all these issues can be aired and resolved in public.

As we have reported previously, the Government seems set on "calling in" the plan for thorough consideration.

If that happens, it is only right that residents, fans, local councils and the business community will have the opportunity to have their say before an independent planning inspector.